Sheesh. It’s already Wednesday? And it’s almost February? Where does the time go????? I know I’m late in putting up my Yarn Along post, but that’s because I haven’t been in the mood to blog today. Shocking, right? I mean, I’m a blogger, that must mean that I want to blog, right???? And yet, I’ve been in the mood to knit today. Knit, knit, knit. Typing = blergh.

And yet, yarning along means that you’re writing about knitting, so there. I’m just fulfilling my mandate. And apart from that, I’ve been on a blog posting spree over the last few days. I actually though of joining up with the WordPress 2013 Post a Day, but I know there are a few things on the horizon where I just won’t manage to to post every day. Plus I want to keep the blogging fun for me – and you! – and I don’t want to turn it into an obligation kind of thing. I have enough of those going on.

Preparing the armhole steek (sorry for the blurry photo!)

But back to the actual topic, the knitting – I’m still working on last week’s project. And I’m actually making a good amount of progress on my Hurricane vest. I’m actually at the armhole part, so I’ve set up my steeking sections. I can see how it’s supposed to work, but the actual steeking will be an adventure… Next up is finishing the armhole shaping and creating the V-neck steeking. Then shoulder grafting, cutting the steeks, and creating the armhole & V-neck ribbing and voila!

Instead of talking about reading, I want to add another note (especially since I actually haven’t read much of anything over the past week). If you’re generally interested in the whole “On This Day…” kind of thing, you might have noticed that today’s the anniversary of a number of important historical events. The one I want to highlight is that today, in 1948, Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian freedom fighter and proponent of nonviolence, was assassinated at point blank range. Gandhi was a key figure in India’s move to independence, and I’ve been thinking back a lot on India’s development since its modern day origin as an independent state. The whole Delhi rape case has brought a lot of the social and societal issues forward, a lot of them unresolved from the time pre-Independence, but also a lot of economic developments have additional tension in India. Gender issues and ensuring that its poor partake in the economic growth are topics India will have to tackle. I’m planning to write a follow-up on the Delhi rape case, so look for more information and discussion there.

Finally! My Erin Go Bragh shawl is finished!!!! Actually, it’s been finished for a long time. I think I finished it in August last year – or maybe June? I know that my plan was to finish the project during the Summer Olympics, but I’m not sure if I managed. That’s the problem with not writing down pattern notes. But, I know the project has been lingering for a long time since the pictures are from August 2012.

The pattern is Veera Välimäki Color Affection shawl. I jumped on the Color Affection bandwagon, planning to make a green and grey version. The lighter green was so bright, it made me think of Ireland. Hence, the Erin Go Bragh title. But, I wanted the shawl to be a bit bigger to max out the use of the yarn, so I added a few extra wrap & turn sections. Unfortunately I don’t remember the details since I didn’t write down any pattern notes. Apart from that I made the final green border a bit wider, and then finished with an I-cord bindoff. I like the clean look of that bindoff and I made sure to avoid any puckering along the bindoff by using a 4.5mm needle (compared to the 4.0mm needle for the rest of the shawl).

I really like the finished shawl, although it’s a really big now. Oh, the irony – it’s my own fault after all. The question now is who will get it? It’ll probably end up a gift since I want to give a handknit gift to a friend of mine, and I don’t think I’ll be able to whip one up before I meet up with her next week.

These KALs (knit-alongs, for all you non-knitters out there) are a lot of fun, but they’re mostly fun when you knit at about the same pace as most other people. It’s fun to see how everybody’s projects move along with their different color section. But if you’re really way behind, well, then the temptation to knit something else is just too great. At least for me. Which is why it took me almost 4 months to finish the project, and why I’m only now putting up this post. But now this monkey is off my back. Yay!

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You might have noticed that I’ve added a new page to the blog, called Project 365. In case you haven’t heard of this before, the idea behind Project 365 is that you take a photograph a day, for 365 days, or longer. It’s a way to record life around you, to function as a diary or to improve your photography skills.

I’ve tried to take a photograph a day few times before, mostly using this Project 365 app, but I usually fail after a few days. And then someone on my Twitter feed started talking about how they really like Blipfoto, and how easy to use their app is. So, I’m giving it a shot in the hopes that I’ll make it this time, even if I’m not starting on January 1st. I’m really liking it so far, although I’m also trying out 365projectorg.com, to see how versatile it is. And apart from that, I’m also using Flickr so I’ll be posting my photographs to the Project 365 pool. So, let’s see how that goes. In the meanwhile, you’ll also find my Project 365 photographs on their own page. Let me know what you think!